How Much Do You Need?

Generally you use 8 oz of HCM beads per 2.5 cubic feed of humidor volume. Most people use double this amount to be safe

Calculate your bead requirements:

What Is Different About HCM Beads?
There is no PG (Propylene Glycol), salts, or silica in HCM
beads. HCM Beads work using the simple principle of equilibrium.
They have a much higher affinity for gathering and releasing water
than silica beads; the construction of HCM beads allows for a far
greater reservoir of water to be made available for use in a
humidor.

In a sealed humidor, they are by far the fastest and easiest way to
control humidity. They also scavenge and hold free ammonia. The
physical properties and principles behind HCM beads allow them
to maintain the RH in a humidor.

Glycols function much like hygroscopic salts,
but require higher concentrations to achieve equilibrium and may
also evaporate. Glycol concentrations may be as high as twice those
of hygroscopic salts, requiring a significantly larger amount of
solution to work as a desiccant. Due to the potential for
evaporation, the solution may need to be periodically replaced...

Why Are HCM Beads Better Than PG and SAP?
When PG is combined with water or SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer), its
hygroscopic properties are instantly defeated because you have just
created a saturated solution. Saturated as in "I can no longer
gather water because I am saturated, thus PG is no longer hygroscopic until
the absorbed water has been reduced below its capacity to hold water.

Mixed with water or SAP, PG will only release water at a rate equal
to 70% RH. That is good because in a saturated solution you can
control the release of water, holding it at 70%.
So in this instance, you have got a great opportunity to use it where
a lot of water is needed to maintain a humidor. This makes PG and
SAP a good choice for very dry places or leaky humidors.

However, if your humidor sits in an area where the ambient RH is higher than
70%, the humidor is going to assume the higher ambient over time,
whether it be through frequent opening or an inherently leaky humidor.
That is the problem with PG and SAP. PG is hygroscopic except when
it is already saturated. Even when it is not saturated, its ability
to soak up water is nominal at best.

What About PG Treated Beads?
A desiccant gathers water until it reaches equilibrium with
the ambient environment. If the beads are treated with a PG solution
those beads will release water until they have achieved 70% RH.

Untreated beads will try to gather water until they reach
their equilibrium (whatever that may be) regardless of the ambient RH. This means you
have untreated beads trying to absorb water and PG treated beads
trying to give up water. This results in a medium that will release
water and absorb water, that has little to do with the hygroscopic
nature of PG. The result is beads "battling" each other.

This does allow some control over RH by both gathering and releasing water at a particular RH.
This is easily put out of balance by overwatering the beads. Once the beads are saturated, you have just
turned them into the same thing as a pg/water/sap medium.

Inversely, we can keep the beads
totally dry and they will simply adsorb water until they have reached
equilibrium, which would be the 70% that the PG dictates. Then
they will need to be dried out to continue absorbing water.

What Can't HCM Beads Do?
There is one thing that no humidification product -- HCM
beads, silica or SAP can defeat, and that is a leaky humidor. Whether
because it is warped, has a poor seal around the lid or door,
leaky seals around glass, or it is a wine cooler and the drain is not
plugged.

A person is far better off with a Rubbermaid™ container or a Ziploc™ bag than a leaky
humidor. The biggest problem is that many commercially available
humidors leak. The good thing is most can be fixed!

Aside from the calculator, how much do I need?
An 8 oz bag can handle a 2.5 cubic foot (4,320 cubic inch) humidor;
that is approximately 12" x 18" x 20". Most use an 8 oz bag
for a 50 quart coolidor although it is twice what is needed. Three 8
oz bags seems to be the perfect amount for Vinotemps or Edgestars.

What Do I Get When I Buy HCM Beads?
You get a bag with a measured amount of HCM beads. The bags
are permanent and made of 100% fusible nylon knit interlacing that
is very sheer and allows for excellent transfer of humidity between
the beads and the air in your humidor. They will last a lifetime
with proper care and work at least 800% better than any other
passive humidification product available. They do not break, turn
color, collect odors or wear out. They also grab and hold any free
ammonia that comes off of your cigars -- especially important for Coolidors (that do not have wood to absorb the ammonia) used for
aging cigars.

How Can I Easily Calibrate My Hygrometer?
We sell hygrometers that can easily be calibrated to 65% RH. If you need to calibrate
one yourself we recommend using the 65% Boveda pack rather than the
salt test (easier to do and less mess). We also sell the 65% Boveda
Packs.

Whatever RH you decide upon -- that is the RH at which to
calibrate your hygrometer. A hygrometer calibrated at 75% may be
accurate at or around 75%, but not quite so accurate at 65%. It
is best to calibrate for your desired RH.

The HCM beads will (in a sealed environment) absorb water vapor
until they reach equilibrium with their environment. This means that
if all your cigars are at 70% the beads will absorb the water vapor
until they reach an RH that is equal with the cigars.

This means that they will absorb the moisture from the cigars,
and the beads themselves will be at a (slightly) higher RH. You
should periodically check the RH of your beads by putting them in a Ziploc™ bag with a calibrated hygrometer for a couple of hours. If
the beads are too high you can put them in your refrigerator until
the RH comes down to where you want it. When you take the
beads out of the cold environment you need to immediately put them
into a Ziploc™ bag with a hygrometer until they warm to room
temperature. Otherwise water will rapidly condense from the
surrounding air onto the beads -- defeating the whole drying-out
process.

Never add water or wet HCM beads! If you want to increase the RH
of the beads, put them in a Ziploc™, Tupperware™ or other sealed
container with a damp sponge -- making sure that the sponge does not
touch the beads -- and a hygrometer. Once the beads are at the
desired RH, take the sponge out and seal the bag and let it sit for
a time to verify that you have a stable RH.

What is Watersorb®?
Watersorb® is just SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer). It simply gives
off and absorbs water, there is no control over RH levels. It will not
absorb water from the air once it is wet either. It only works in one
direction, and that is to give off water. If you hydrate WatersorbÂ®
with a 50/50 PG (Propylene Gycol) solution then you can keep your RH
at 70% in your humidor. You have to supply ample surface area
though, and that is tough when you have a big humidor as Watersorb®
will take up a lot of space.

What is the "Salt Test"?
Get a Ziploc™ bag, a screw-on bottle cap (or other small container), a small amount of
regular table salt, and water.

Place the salt in the bottle cap

Dampen the salt with a little water -- not so much water
that the salt gets "sloppy". You want a damp pile of salt in the
bottle cap.

Place the hygrometer and the bottle cap of damp salt in the Ziploc™ bag and seal it well.

Keep the Ziploc™ for at least 8 hours

After 8 hours the humidity inside the bag will be 75%.
Compare it to your hygrometer. Your hygrometer should also read
75%. If not, you will then know exactly how far off your
hygrometer is. If it is off, adjust it. You can set the
hygrometer to 75% immediately after the test.

After adjusting your hygrometer, put it back in the bag for
another 8 hours to verify the calibration. Repeat as necessary.

Why Can't I Just Use Kitty Litter?
In order to get the same humidity buffering benefit from kitty
litter as from HCM beads, a person would need to use 9 to 14 pounds
of kitty litter as compared to one pound of HCM beads. At $50 for a
pound of HCM beads and $28 for 14 pounds of kitty litter, it appears
at first to be a "value". The
problem is, in order for the Kitty litter to work as well as one
pound of HCM beads, it needs to be arranged so as to provide 910
square inches of surface area as opposed to 65 square inches of
surface area for HCM beads. Are you willing to spare that kind of
space in your humidor?

Even at that rate, the kitty litter is far slower reactively than are HCM beads. They can
handle the buffering and provide the volume needed, but they take
much longer to recover the RH of the conditioned space.